most big events. some would be like world war 1 and 2, the whole issue in the middle east and more.

Epsilon: There are so many stories where some brave hero decides to give their life to save the day, and because of their sacrifice, the good guys win, the survivors all cheer, and everybody lives happily ever after. But the hero... never gets to see that ending. They'll never know if their sacrifice actually made a difference. They'll never know if the day was really saved. In the end, they just have to have faith.

At 7/28/2013 11:16:39 PM, TrollTaire wrote:Well in World War I the Germans did by angering the Americans. If Germany hadn't sent the Zimmerman telegram, America may not have entered the war and Germany could have possibly won.

World War I was a consequence of the imperialistic tradition that had pervaded Europe during the late 19th and early 20th centuries. The complex alliances and boundaries that divided some ethnicities up and combined other ethnicities together created a source of resentment among minorities. This came to a head in Serbia where the Serbs were revolting against the Austrio-Hungarian Empire. After the assassination of Archduke Ferdinand in Sarajevo (consequently a contested area), Austio-Hungary delivered an ultimatum to Serbia to hand over the terrorists behind the plot or face invasion. Serbia appealed to Russia, Austrio-Hungary appealed to Germany, and soon, England, France, the Ottoman Empire, Italy, Bulgaria, Romania, and the United States became involved.

World War II was a consequence of the Versailles treaty placed overly-restrictive restrictions on Germany. Between that and the Great Depression, it left an environment conductive for someone like Adolf Hitler to step in and claim to bring Germany back to its former glory (hence the "third" Reich). The case was similar in Japan, where the Japanese thought they hadn't received enough from the Versailles treaty (Japan was with the allies in WWI). That set the stage for the European invasion, and, inevitably, the Second World War.

The Middle Eastern Conflict is the result of the results of European Colonialism, the inherent Jewish/Muslim conflict, and America's imperialistic drive to create nations and spread democracy. That has created a cauldron in the Middle East that could only be "filled" by charismatic radicals who want to spread terror, preying on the "oppressed" Arabs who use Islam as an excuse to justify their actions. This has led America to a greater drive to suppress the Middle East, and the whole situation just begets itself.

Overall, Imperialism has caused most of the mess in the 20th century, as it always has since the dawn of human civilization.

Lying on the hill, crawling over the windowsill into your living room, they stare out, glass-eyed aimless heads, bodies torn by vultures. You are the man whose hands are rank with the smell of death. - Peter Hammill, "The Emperor in His War Room"

Dammit, you stole mine. Possibly the greatest fvck up in any war ever. If it weren't for that, we might all be speaking German.

"I know what you're thinking. 'Did he fire six shots or only five?' Well, to tell you the truth, in all this excitement I kinda lost track myself. But being that his is a .44 Magnum, the most powerful handgun in the world and will blow your head clean off, you've got to ask yourself a question. 'Do I feel lucky?' Well, do ya, punk?"